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Abigail Mawonde Herald Correspondent
There was chaos at the Zimbabwe-China Friendship School on Monday when parents besieged the institution demanding the ouster of the school head.

The state-of-the-art school in the heart of Hatcliffe was built by the Chinese government and donated to the State. It has modern infrastructure comprising high-rise classroom blocks.

Placard-waving parents thronged the school and attempted to block the school head, Mrs Flora Ndlovu, from entering the premises. They accused Mrs Ndlovu of running the school single-handedly without involving parents as stakeholders.

In an interview with The Herald, the School Development Committee chairperson, Pastor Michael Chitemwe, confirmed the rift between Mrs Ndlovu and parents, saying it was causing problems at the school.

“We have had a problem with the school head in that ever since she came to the school she has not had a meeting with the parents,” he said.

“On the day she came she said there was nothing she could discuss with us until we visited her former school in Kuwadzana so we could have an appreciation of how she was running the school.

“We told her seeing her former school was not yet our priority as this was a new school that needed people to come up with joint efforts to have it fully functional in every sector.

“Laboratories have no equipment. Pupils have no textbooks and there is no timetable. All these things need attention. When we suggested to her that we come up with a school development plan just to make her have an appreciation of how the school started because this school was established when the head was not there, she refused.”

Pastor Chitemwe said Mrs Ndlovu only came to the school after pupils had been enrolled and an SDC was already in office. The parents said they were livid that Mrs Ndlovu had opened a bank account for the school without the involvement of parents through the SDC.

They argued that exposed school funds to abuse. The parents further accused Mrs Ndlovu of single- handedly overseeing the designing of the school uniform.

Pupils do not have one uniform at the school for now, as each pupil is wearing a uniform from his or her previous school. The ensuing chaos is at odds with the modern state of the school. Mrs Ndlovu referred The Herald to the provincial education director, Mr Christopher Kateera.

Mr Kateera said: “What we have learnt is that a lot of politics is now involved in the running of the school and it is a year of elections and everyone wants to claim that they have something to do with that school and, therefore, they should actually be put into some positions.

“There is an interim SDC, then there is a local councillor and a local MP.”

Mr Kateera said he was ready to engage the parents to resolve the dispute amicably.